The girl looked to be about seventeen or eighteen years old. She was youthful and beautiful, with her most striking feature being a pair of golden pupils.
Under the girl's command, Gogoat slowly pulled the Stantler up.
Just as Yuga was observing the girl, she suddenly pointed at him and questioned sternly, "Why did you attack my Stantler?"
Yuga shot back with a question of his own: "Wasn't it your Stantler that attacked me first?"
The girl frowned upon hearing this. "How would I know? I didn't see what happened."
Yuga asked with a smile, "Since you don't know the situation, why did you immediately start by questioning me?"
The girl became more flustered and replied with less confidence, "I… I don't… don't know whether what you're saying is true or not."
As soon as she finished her sentence and before Yuga could respond, she quickly changed the subject: "Who are you? What are you doing here? Are you an adventurer too?"
Yuga shook his head. "My name is Shimizu Yuga. I'm here looking for someone, or rather, looking for a certain place. And you? Who are you?"
Upon hearing Yuga's words, a flicker quickly flashed through the girl's eyes. She then responded, "Yeah, I'm Naya, an adventurer."
Yuga took out a Poké Ball, recalled Dragonite, and then summoned back Gengar and Mismagius. He then directed Sawsbuck to leap across the cliff in a single bound, landing lightly beside Naya.
He looked at Naya with suspicion in his eyes. "Are you really an adventurer?"
Naya felt uncomfortable under Yuga's gaze but forced a self-righteous tone as she said, "Of course! If I'm not an adventurer, then what am I doing here!"
Yuga turned his gaze to the Stantler. "Your Stantler seems pretty strong. Is it really yours?"
The Stantler became uneasy under Yuga's scrutiny and quickly turned its head away.
The Stantler was a Champion-level Pokémon. Saying it belonged to a young girl did seem a bit far-fetched. While geniuses did exist, they were rare—you couldn't expect to run into one so easily. If geniuses were that common, they wouldn't be called geniuses.
Besides, the Stantler was so powerful, yet Gogoat hadn't even reached the pseudo-Elite level.
It was understandable for one person's Pokémon to have differences in strength, but this gap was too large. Moreover, Gogoat wasn't of low potential either—if trained by the same person, the disparity shouldn't be so significant.
So, this Naya was highly suspicious!
Naya suddenly had a flash of inspiration and retorted, "Why can't my Pokémon be strong? Your Pokémon even defeated my Stantler—aren't you even stronger?"
Yuga shamelessly praised himself, "I'm a genius. Are you a genius too?"
"Uh…" Naya was rendered speechless by Yuga's comment, then stammered back weakly, "I… I am… a genius too…"
Yuga didn't expose her lie and instead continued asking, "Your clothes are quite uncommon. Where did you get them?"
Naya was wearing a uniquely styled white robe, something usually only worn by ethnic minorities. Ordinary Trainers from modern cities wouldn't be wearing something like that out in public.
Naya didn't know how to answer Yuga's question, so she impatiently jumped down from the large rock. "Ugh, why do you ask so many questions? I'm not talking to you anymore!"
With that, she turned around to leave, and her Stantler and Gogoat quickly followed behind.
But Yuga wasn't about to let her go so easily. He followed and asked, "You must be pretty familiar with Mount Belljade, right?"
Naya immediately puffed out her not-so-prominent chest and said proudly, "Of course, I—" But she suddenly cut herself off, afraid she might let something slip.
Yuga's eyes twinkled with curiosity. "I'm lost here. Can I ask you to guide me? The mist is really thick around here."
Naya originally didn't want to agree, but she seemed to think of something and suddenly smiled brightly. "Sure! But you better stick close to me. This place is really dangerous."
So, under Naya's guidance, Yuga began wandering through the mist. It was clear that Naya was indeed very familiar with this foggy area, but she never led Yuga out of it.
During this time, Yuga was attacked by several wild Pokémon, but none of them were high-level. With Sawsbuck around, it wasn't hard to handle them. However, due to the fog concealing their presence, Yuga wasn't able to catch any of them.
After driving off a sneaky Diggersby, Yuga asked Naya, "Hey, this is really strange. Why have all the wild Pokémon along the way only attacked me and not you?"
Naya stiffened at his question, then chuckled awkwardly and said, "I… how would I know? Maybe it's because I'm cuter?"
Yuga rolled his eyes and didn't ask any more questions. He was curious to see what other tricks this girl was going to pull.
Seeing that none of the Pokémon in the mist could do anything to Yuga, Naya was so furious her teeth itched. At last, she finally led Yuga out of the misty area.
She pointed to a valley not far away and said to Yuga, "Once you pass through that valley, you'll be able to leave Mount Belljade. This place is very dangerous, you really shouldn't linger here."
"Really? Thank you," Yuga replied with a deliberately grateful expression, then lifted his foot and started walking in the direction of the valley.
He really wanted to see what exactly was in the valley that this girl had gone through so much trouble to lure him into.
Just as Yuga was about to step into the valley entrance, a Braviary descended from the sky, landing opposite Yuga and blocking his path.
"Don't go in."
A young man wearing a white robe jumped down from the Braviary's back and stopped Yuga.
"You are?" Yuga asked in confusion.
"My name is Simon, I'm Naya's older brother. I apologize on Naya's behalf, please forgive all her previous inappropriate behavior."
The young man performed a strange kind of bow toward Yuga and spoke with great politeness.
Yuga scrutinized Simon and found that he did indeed resemble Naya. He was also dressed in a peculiar long white robe, though its style was slightly different from Naya's—a male version, whereas hers was clearly for females.
Noticing Yuga's confused gaze, Simon explained, "There's a mentally unstable Pokémon in this valley, and it's extremely powerful. Anyone who enters is likely to be attacked by it."
In truth, this Pokémon belonged to an elder of their family. Due to a mishap during its training, it had lost its sanity, so it was placed in this seldom-visited valley.
The area outside the valley was covered in mist. Without someone familiar with the terrain to lead the way, it was almost impossible for an outsider to make it here.
Upon hearing this, Yuga suddenly understood and then turned to Naya with a mock-shocked expression: "I have no grudge against you, and yet you tried to harm me!" He looked at her accusingly as he spoke.
Now that her scheme had been exposed by her own brother, Naya blushed from embarrassment and didn't even dare meet Yuga's eyes.
Seeing this, Simon scolded, "Aren't you going to apologize to this gentleman?"
Naya hesitated and dawdled her way over, muttering under her breath, "Well he bullied my Stantler first..."
The truth was, she just couldn't accept that Yuga had been able to defeat her Stantler. She wanted to test Yuga's strength using the Pokémon in the valley, hoping it would make him realize how dangerous Mount Belljade was and leave as soon as possible.
The Pokémon in the valley was only slightly stronger than her Stantler. Since Yuga could deal with that, he wouldn't really be in any danger.
That's exactly why Naya had dared to trick Yuga into going there—she had no intention of actually endangering his life.
But Simon hadn't seen Yuga's strength firsthand. He simply assumed that Yuga was an ordinary adventurer who had come to explore Mount Belljade. That's why he was so harsh in scolding his sister for her reckless behavior.
Seeing Naya continue to drag her feet, Simon shouted, "Hurry up already!"
Reluctantly, Naya walked up to Yuga and gave a quiet apology: "S-sorry…"
Yuga didn't say he forgave her—he simply looked at her in silence, which only made Naya feel even more ashamed.
Seeing this, Simon asked, "May I ask your name, sir?"
Yuga replied, "Shimizu Yuga."
Simon then asked, "May I ask why Mr. Shimizu has come to Mount Belljade? We are quite familiar with this place—if there's anything we can help with…"
Yuga thought to himself: I was just waiting for you to say that!
"I'm looking for a place—Arche Valley"
The moment Yuga said this, the siblings' expressions changed dramatically, especially Naya.
I knew it!
It was precisely because she had vaguely suspected what Yuga was searching for that Naya had been so eager to drive him out of Mount Belljade.
Their expressions only changed for the briefest instant, quickly returning to normal—but Yuga noticed it nonetheless.
"I wonder what business Mr. Shimizu has with that place? We've never heard of it before," Simon said, probing carefully.
After a series of tests and interactions, Yuga was already almost certain that these two were people from Arche Valley. So he stopped playing games and spoke directly:
"I was entrusted by the Fairy Remnants to meet someone from the Arche Valley."
Upon hearing the name of the Fairy Remnants, the expressions of the brother and sister changed again, but they still did not reveal their identities.
"How about... I take you to meet one of my elders? He's very knowledgeable and well-traveled—he might know where the Arche Valley is," Simon said after a moment of hesitation.
Yuga knew that he had not yet earned their trust and that the other side was still testing him, so he agreed readily: "Sure."
Under the guidance of the brother and sister, Yuga arrived at the foot of a steep cliff. There was a wooden cabin here, and in front of the cabin was a large vegetable garden. An elderly man with graying hair was working in the field wearing a short-sleeved shirt.
"Grandpa Max!"
From a distance, Naya had already started waving at the old man. The old man looked up and smiled kindly when he saw the siblings, but when he noticed Yuga, his expression subtly changed, almost imperceptibly.
When the three of them came up to the old man, he looked at Simon and asked, "And this young man is?"
Simon stepped forward and whispered a few words into the old man's ear. The old man then turned to Yuga with a kind smile and asked, "You're here to find the Arche Valley, entrusted by the Fairy Remnants?"
"That's right," Yuga nodded.
"Do you have anything to prove it?" the old man continued.
Upon hearing this, Yuga took out a wooden token covered in strange carvings. It was given to him by Headmaster Fontaine as a symbol of identity from the Fairy Remnants.
Since the Arche Valley had remained hidden from the world for many years, it naturally meant they didn't wish to deal with outsiders. Headmaster Fontaine thought that even if Yuga sought them out, they might not be willing to reveal themselves, and even if they did, they might not be inclined to help. So he gave Yuga this token.
The Fairy Remnants and the Arche Valley once shared a deep relationship, but after many years without contact, Headmaster Fontaine was unsure whether the other side would still recognize this bond. Still, if it could be of even the slightest help, it would be a huge support.
The old man took the token, carefully examined it, then handed it back to Yuga.
"The item is genuine—but it's still not enough."
Yuga thought for a moment, then directly took out the ceramic jar. Before entering Mount Belljade, he had already moved the jar from the system space to his space backpack, so taking it out now didn't seem abrupt at all.
Upon seeing the ceramic jar, the old man finally showed a trace of emotion on his face. He then looked at Yuga and said, "Tell me the reason you're looking for the Arche Valley."
Yuga didn't hide anything and told the old man everything about Zenith Academy. Since he had already guessed that the person before him came from the Arche Valley, continuing to conceal the truth would only backfire.
After listening to Yuga's account, the old man fell into a long silence. Only after a while did he speak with a face full of disappointment: "I didn't expect that even the once-glorious Fairy Remnants would eventually fall into decline."
After another moment of silence, the old man finally looked up at Yuga and said, "I'll take you to see our clan leader. I can't help with your problem, so we can only see if the clan leader has a way."
The issue the old man referred to was the matter concerning Chimecho.
Hearing this, joy welled up in Yuga's heart—so the old man had indeed realized that he had guessed their identity.
"Grandpa Max…"
Naya wanted to say something else, but seeing Max shake his head at her, she had no choice but to shut her mouth.
Under the old man's guidance, Yuga arrived at the entrance of a massive tunnel. Passing through the tunnel, a long, deep canyon unfolded before them.
It was only after the old man's explanation that Yuga learned this canyon was the real Windrest Ravine. It was just that several hundred years ago, the people of the Transcendence Clan had altered the geography of Mount Belljade, causing Windrest Ravine to be hidden deep within the mountain.
Many of the Pokémon in Mount Belljade weren't actually wild, but rather raised by the Transcendence Clan. That was why Yuga had constantly felt like he was being watched earlier.
Among the wild Pokémon here, there were quite a few "scouts" planted by the Transcendence Clan. This was also the reason Naya and Simon were able to find Yuga—otherwise, given how vast Mount Belljade was, it would have been near impossible for them to run into him so easily.
That Champion-level Stantler also wasn't Naya's Pokémon, but one stationed by the Transcendence Clan outside to drive away intruding adventurers.
After passing through Windrest Ravine and arriving at the entrance to the Arche Valley, Yuga finally understood why the Transcendence Clan had remained hidden for so many years without being discovered.
It turned out that the Arche Valley wasn't actually located within the Pokémon World, but rather in an independent dimension. This space was somewhat similar to the one Yuga and Cynthia had entered back at Snowpeak of Mount Coronet, though the environment within it was entirely different.
The key for the people of the Transcendence Clan to enter and exit the Arche Valley was the pendant hanging around their necks—the Arceus Ring, which was modeled after the ring on Arceus's back.
Mr. Max was the gatekeeper of the Transcendence Clan. Any clan member who wished to enter or exit the Arche Valley had to first obtain his permission.
They saw Mr. Max holding the Arceus Ring, closing his eyes reverently, and making strange gestures with his hands. A power began to manifest on his body, resonating with the ring.
Immediately afterward, the ring emitted a golden beam of light, and the spatial passage to the Arche Valley appeared before them.